The Technology Gateway

The low-temperature oxidation catalyst technology employs a novel catalyst formulation, termed platinized tin oxide (Pt/SnOx). The catalysts can be used on silica gel and cordierite catalyst supports, and the latest developments provide sprayable formulations for use on a range of support types and...

A kite system includes a kite and a ground station. The ground station includes a sensor that can be utilized to determine an angular position and velocity of the kite relative to the ground station. A controller utilizes a fuzzy logic control system to autonomously fly the kite. The system may...

The technology portfolio spans several methods for dispersion and processing of CNTs in polymer resins and composites. CNT/resin systems with high dispersion and long-term stability are provided by three general approaches. One method relies on mechanical dispersion by sonication simultaneous with...

A multi-element airfoil system includes an airfoil element having a leading edge region and a skin element coupled to the airfoil element. A slat deployment system is coupled to the slat and the skin element, and is capable of deploying and retracting the slat and the skin element. The skin element...

The low-profile sensor is configured with a spiral electrical trace on flexible substrate. In typical inductor designs, the space between traces is designed to minimize parasitic conductance to reduce the impact of the capacitance to neighboring electronics. In the low-profile sensor, however,...

For decades, frequency modulation has been used to generate chirps, the signals produced and interpreted by sonar and radar systems. Traditionally, a radio or microwave signal is transmitted toward the target and reflected back to a detector, which records the time elapsed and calculates the...

The high output flame holder was developed in support of the U.S. Navy's efforts to design a jet engine simulator for infrared plume studies. Previous tests had shown that off-the-shelf components would melt or burn up in a short time. Given these design and performance criteria, NASA developed a...

To control membrane tension, the actuator is deployed between a frame and the flexible membrane, and attached to both. Application of a voltage to the actuator causes the actuator to shorten, increasing tension on the membrane. Currently, tension in most membrane structures is controlled with...

The fluid measurement sensor is configured with a spiral electrical trace on flexible substrate. The sensor receives a signal from the accompanying magnetic field data acquisition system. Once electrically active, the sensor produces its own harmonic magnetic field as the inductor stores and...

Understanding the characteristics of a weather system is vital to predicting the path and severity of storms such as hurricanes and typhoons. The surface air pressure over the ocean is one of the key characteristics that can be used in making those predictions. Current long-range technologies can...

Global, real-time structural health monitoring systems for air and space vehicles require new strategies for the development of extremely small and lightweight sensors that are embeddable and scalable to arrays. Geometries with very thin regions (e.g., leading edges), sharp changes (e.g., wing/...

State-of-the-art thermal protection systems typically include a support or carrier structure with thermal protection material/elements coupled to the carrier structure and exposed to an ambient, high-temperature environment. The carrier structure is generally made from a low-temperature material...

As shown in Figure 1, traditional computational aeroelastic analysis using CFD codes requires the coupled interaction of the linear structural model and the nonlinear aerodynamic model (both within the aeroelastic CFD code). The structural model provides displacements due to aerodynamic forces, and...

Langley has developed various technologies to enable the portable detection system, including: - 3-inch electret condenser microphone - unprecedented sensitivity of -45 dB/Hz - compact nonporous windscreen - suitable for replacing spatially demanding soaker hoses in current use - infrasonic...

NASAs technology involves the development of tailorable dielectric materials by the deposition of metal nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes using a solvent-free method. The novel materials consist of aligned nanotubes decorated with nanometer dimension metal particles distributed in a polymer matrix...

Attached to the interior edges of the wheel well and covering the entire cavity opening, the stretchable mesh promotes growth of three-dimensional flow structures within the free shear layer. The fine flow structures generated by the mesh effectively reduce shear layer roll-up and eliminate span-...

NASA Langley's method for pitot-static calibration is a novel application of modern system identification methods for in-flight airspeed calibration. True airspeed is calculated using measurements from a global positioning system (GPS) by vector summing of ground speed and estimated wind speed...

The innovation improves upon the performance of passive automatic enhancement of digital images. Specifically, the image enhancement process is improved in terms of resulting contrast, lightness, and sharpness over the prior art of automatic processing methods. The innovation brings the technique...

NASA Langley developed the polyimide foam technology to meet an aerospace industry demand for high-performance structural foam with increased stiffness but without large weight increases that could operate over a large temperature regime -253 degrees Celsius to 232 degrees Celsius. The process for...

High-performance electromechanical devices based on transducers and actuators are deployed in a wide variety of industries. The common need is a system that converts mechanical energy in the environment to electrical energy to power a device in the most energy-efficient process. NASAs technology...

NASA's Forward Voltage Short-Pulse Technique provides a novel alternative means to measure LDA junction temperature. Laser diode systems contain a driver that provides nominal quasi-continuous wave pulses. In this technique, a second driver is used to provide precise pulses between operational...

NASA Langley developed the LSMS because of the need for a versatile system capable of performing multiple functions on the lunar surface, such as unloading components from a lander, transporting components to an operational site and installing them, and supporting service and replacement during...

A distributed system is defined to be self-stabilizing when it can come from an arbitrary state and be in the presence of a bounded number of Byzantine faults, yet be guaranteed to reach a legitimate state in a finite amount of time and remain there as long as the number of faults are within a...

The technology presents a fundamental change in the way electrical devices are designed, using an open circuit in conjunction with a floating electrode, or an electrically conductive object not connected to anything by wires, and powered through a wireless device. This system uses inductor-...

A photogrammetry system and method provide for determining the relative position between two objects. The system utilizes one or more imaging devices, such as high speed cameras, that are mounted on a first body, and three or more photogrammetry targets of a known location on a second body. The...

In 2004, NASA developed a deconvolution approach for the mapping of acoustic sources (DAMAS) that decoupled the array design and processing influence from the noise being measured, using a simple and robust algorithm. DAMAS does not add any additional assumption to traditional array processing/...

An aircraft wing has an inboard section and an outboard section. The inboard section is attached (i) on one side thereof to the aircraft's fuselage, and (ii) on an opposing side thereof to an inboard side of a turbofan engine nacelle in an over-the-wing mounting position. The outboard section's...

The technology is constructed to allow modulation of player inputs to a video game or simulation from a user interface device based on the players psychophysiological state. The invention exploits current wireless motion-sensing technologies to utilize physiological signals for input modulation...

Many piezoelectric control approaches rely on complex digital electronics to implement model-based feedback control algorithms in order to reduce structural vibrations. NASA's new device leverages a highly directional, diamond-shaped actuator with interdigitated electrodes and four miniature...

NASA developed the technology to meet the needs for on-board satellite data processing for future missions. The continuing trends toward ever-increasing resolution, improved data quality, and additional capacity for raw and/or processed data will necessitate the use of larger on-board memories,...

An aircraft is configured for flight in an atmosphere having a low density. The aircraft includes a fuselage, a pair of wings, and a rear stabilizer. The pair of wings extends from the fuselage in opposition to one another. The rear stabilizer extends from the fuselage in spaced relationship to the...

A self-contained avionics sensing and flight control system is provided for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system includes sensors for sensing flight control parameters and surveillance parameters, and a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Flight control parameters and location signals...

NASA Langley developed a novel all-organic actuator with SWCNT film electrode because commonly used metal electrodes such as silver and gold tend to constrain displacement (elongation or contraction) of an electroactive polymer at the interface. The actual output strain of the metal devices is...

NASA's plasma-deposition process provides the ability to tailor various properties while designing functional parts by selecting specific materials and processing parameters to meet the end goal. Specifically, the plasma process deposits metal particles that are heated as they travel axially at low...

The NASA Langley Composite Actuator portfolio utilizes a NASA-patented (US 6,629,341) and commercialized MFC piezoelectric fiber composite actuator platform. This actuator platform enables compact, lightweight electroactive actuators, which can be broadly applied to a variety of actuator...

NASA's novel method was developed to more accurately measure the position and shape of optical fibers. Multi-core optical fibers contain multiple light-guiding cores arranged symmetrically. Sensors, such as FBGs, are embedded into each of the cores (Figure 1). Such an arrangement allows for the...

Work to date has been performed with polyimides, but the technology is expected to work with a variety of solvent castable polymers, as well as a variety of metal coatings, including silver, palladium, copper, and aluminum. The process is simple, readily scalable, does not employ vacuum processing...

Test results have shown that the system is a robust, operator-independent, and reliable inspection method for granular crack detection in the relief radius of thruster components. It is designed to inspect for outer surface damage by accessing the structure from the interior of the thruster cavity...

The open-structure of the flap modifications allows the aeroacoustic environment outside the flap to communicate with the perforations or gaps within the flap. The openings embedded within the volume of the flap change the boundary condition at the surface of the flap, significantly reducing the...

NASA Langley developed the novel method of constructing recessed core composite panels to reduce unacceptable noise radiated by the existing composite panels. Composite panels are widely used in aerospace applications, and like most lightweight, stiff materials, they efficiently radiate sound...

A jet engine exhaust nozzle flow effector is a chevron formed with a radius of curvature with surfaces of the flow effector being defined and opposing one another. At least one shape memory alloy (SMA) member is embedded in the chevron closer to one of the chevron's opposing surfaces and...

This innovation is based on two new X-Ray Diffraction measurement methods for integral detection and spatial wafer mapping of twin defects in rhombohedrally aligned cubic semiconductor epitaxial layers. By using this innovation as a quality monitoring and control technique, epitaxial growth methods...

Embodiments of the invention permit flight paths (current and planned) to be viewed from various orientations to provide improved path and terrain awareness via graphical two- dimensional or three-dimensional perspective display formats. By coupling the flight path information with a terrain...

A method is provided for making localized decisions and taking localized actions to achieve a global solution. In an embodiment of the present invention, acoustic impedances for impedance-tunable acoustic segments are adjusted. A first acoustic segment through an N-th acoustic segment are defined...

The DOEPOD software package can validate the capability of inspection systems to find fracture-critical flaws in materials, components, and systems, and for qualifying personnel. DOEPOD provides an accurate methodology that yields observed POD and confidence bounds for both Hit/Miss and signal...

NASA's technology is a process for depositing nanometer-sized metal particles onto a substrate in the absence of aqueous solvents, organic solvents, and reducing agents, and without any required pretreatment of the substrate. It involves first mixing carbon and an organometallic compound (silver,...

The use of fiber optic-based sensors has enabled robust, low-cost, intrinsically safe measurement of physical parameters like stress, temperature, pressure, and the presence of certain chemicals. Fiber optic sensors can be used for single point detection or, in the case of Bragg grating sensors...

Both oscillators are flow control devices based on novel geometric designs. They have no moving parts and produce spatially oscillating jets. Each was designed to address a particular limitation of current oscillators. Gaining control authority by decoupling frequency and amplitude: Existing...

The system uses perturbation feedback to help the athlete get into the zone through an original method of ZONE. The method allows a trainee to learn physiological self-regulation in order to modify the difficulty of the performance task and/or environment in which training is conducted. For example...

APOLO and its supporting data processing package were developed for NASA's Doppler Aerosol Wind (DAWN) lidar to compile three-dimensional wind profiles for improved hurricane forecasting models. The data acquisition and processing software displays wind profile parameters that include Doppler shift...